My Genealogical Adventures through 400 Years of Family History

Genealogy in a Small Space

Like many people, I have limited space in which to make the genealogy magic happen. Or try to, anyway.

I have about a third of a room which also serves several other purposes, including sewing room and guest room. Lately, I’ve spent some time re-organizing it.

A big table, bookcase, and filing cabinet

The Table

The table contains the laptop, writing materials, three hole punch, a small tv, lamp, and a Sony clock with an iphone-charger on top. It’s an old wooden table with fabric and clear vinyl fitted over the top. The old office chair, recovered, is incredibly comfortable. And that is my actual tiny pile of papers, not doctored at all for the pictures. Guess I have been organizing!

Doesn’t everyone have pictures of their ancestors on their “desktop”?

The Bookcase

The bookcase is an old unfinished furniture piece whose main value lies in being very big and tall. I have some reference books that are very important to me and I find if I put them in other rooms, I forget what I have. I need to see them as I’m sitting at the desk. Most recently, I rearranged them and actually labelled the shelves. I had to lose one shelf in order to make each shelf tall enough for genealogy books, but it was worth it to group things appropriately.

Oh good – there’s room for about 5 more books

The Filing Cabinet

Hubs made this beautiful filing cabinet just for me. It holds files in the bottom, there is a top drawer for random stuff, plus a sliding pencil drawer. Hubs is very talented!

Two-drawer cabinet made just for me

Recently, I discovered hanging binders. I purchased these on Amazon. I try to keep digital files, but I have accumulated some paper documents and I like them in binders. I prefer the binders because when I pull one out on the desk, everything stays in place and doesn’t get spread all over the table. I thought they would go in the filing cabinet, but I prefer using that space for all other files. So they sit in a plastic bin.

Binders by family name

The Pictures

The other corner holds an inspiring array of family photos. I buy inexpensive frames at antique shops. Hubs made the shelf.

Family photos

The Research Bag

In the corner, I keep a bag with my Flip-Pal (which is a portable battery-run scanner), and a research bag. Here are the contents of the research bag:

Related

9 Responses

So organized! And so unlike my disorganized desk. I am one of those with piles but I know which pile certain items are in. I would love to have a clean desk top but it just does not seem to be me. Sigh…

Love it! I’m so impressed with how efficiently and beautifully you organized your small space. Love the hanging binders, I may have to get some. I recently downsized from a 16×20 office in my home to a smaller loft area 8×10. I’m struggling with the space limitations! If you want to see what I had to go through to purge my files, see my blog at http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com

Hi. A Flip-Pal is a small battery-operated scanner which can operate without a computer (then you re-load the memory card onto your computer, later). It’s good for scanning pictures out of your own home, say, at a relative’s house. Sorry I didn’t explain that! — Diane

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Diane MacLean Boumenot

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